Anesthesia|Pain Management - Articles

Chronic pain is a condition that can be diagnosed on its own or diagnosed as a part of another condition. When coding chronic pain, there is no time frame defining when pain becomes chronic pain; the provider’s documentation should be used to guide the use of these codes.
ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Codes ...

Anesthesia and Pain management is under close watch from the OIG according to a report from Anesthesia Business consultants, they stated, "The Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS OIG) reports in its most recent Semi-annual Report to Congress that in FY 2017 it brought criminal actions against 881 individuals or organizations ...

Fees for anesthesia services are not calculated the same as for other types of procedures. There are four elements to consider when calculating anesthesia fees. Medicare accepts base units and time units; however, depending on the third party payer, they may or may not accept physical status units and/or qualifying circumstances units.
Base Unit (of the CPT code)
Time (in ...

Documentation Modifiers direct prompt and correct payment of the anesthesia claims submitted. Documentation modifiers (AA, QK, AD, QY, QX and QZ) must be billed in the first modifier field.
If a QS modifier applies, it must be in the second modifier field. Processing delays and denials may occur for claims submitted ...

Moderate (Conscious) sedation is a drug-induced state of relaxation in which the patient is typically awake and can respond to verbal commands, but might not be able to speak. A combination of medicines is used and often includes a sedative as well as an anesthetic to block pain.
Prior to 2017, ...

According to Palmetto GBA, Medicare will cover the cost of the injection and the injected hyaluronate polymer for patients who meet the following clinical criteria:
Knee pain associated with radiographic evidence of osteophytes in the knee joint, sclerosis in bone adjacent to the knee, or joint space narrowing.
Morning stiffness of less than 30 minutes in duration or crepitus on motion of the ...

CPT codes 62320, 62322 should be used when the analgesia is delivered by a single injection.These codes should only be used when the catheter or injection is not used for administration of anesthesia during the operative procedure. Modifier 59 should be used when billing these services to indicate that the catheter or injection was a ...

When billing a medical code instead of the dental code D9223 -Deep sedation/general anesthesia - each 15 minute increment, consider the following medical codes: (Be sure to review the AMA guidelines to see if they fit the procedure you are doing). If a dental office is doing conscious sedation for a patient ...

Pay close attention to the new 2017 Anesthesia codes there are a few notable changes. There is a new code set for Epidural Steroid Injections (ESI). The difference in the new codes set has a clear distinction on a single injection or a catheter placement for continuous infusion/intermittent bolus and if ...

Anesthesia services are billed using CPT® codes 00100-01999. These CPT® codes are cross-walked to surgical codes. The crosswalk is available from the American Society of Anesthesiologists at www.asahq.org. Each anesthesia code has a base unit assigned to it. The anesthetist also bills the number of time units, with a single...